FAQs

We hold to this definition from the Education Department of Hillsdale College:

Classical education is the pursuit of human happiness through the cultivation of moral and intellectual virtue by means of a rich and rigorous course of study in the arts, sciences, and humanities, yielding informed self-government and a well-ordered understanding of the world and human nature.

No, Montessori is a specific schooling method that focuses on encouraging a child's natural interests and intelligence by allowing the child to guide his own education. Classical education is a philosophy of education, rather than a specific method, which focuses on calling a child to a higher, external, objective standard of what it means to be human.

Classical Conversations?

No, Classical Conversations is a specific homeschool curriculum drawing on the broader classical philosophy of education. They have ideas in common, but are not the same.

Most schools in our state, public or private, spend around $13,000 per student per year. As a private school, we receive no public funding, but count on private charitable donations and tuition to cover all our expenses. We are working hard to make tuition affordable for parents by 1) seeking to operate as economically as possible while not compromising our mission, and 2) raising funds from outside individuals and organizations who are eager see our mission go forward.

Besides generating necessary income for the school, charging tuition requires parents to carefully consider the value of the education we offer and their own commitment to it. We hope the parents who join our community have resolved that this education is worth the cost and the financial sacrifices that will likely be required of their family.

Our ticket-price tuition for grades 1-6 is $6750 per year. While we view the financial commitment of tuition as something that will strengthen our school community, our hope is that tuition will never be a barrier that prevents like-minded families from joining us. Discounts are offered for early enrollment, paying in full, and enrolling multiple children. Additionally, parents may apply to be considered for tuition assistance through a third-party company for a small fee. The third-party assessment takes into account the household's whole financial picture, and returns a tuition level that the family can reasonably afford to pay. (We encourage you to talk with us if you feel there are factors affecting your ability to pay tuition which are not addressed in the third-party process). When the assessment is completed, we will do our best to provide financial assistance (through private donors) bringing tuition down to the affordable figure. Our families are also encouraged to ask their own personal contacts to consider donating to the school's tuition assistance fund or directly toward their child's tuition costs. For more about our financial plan, see https://cedarclassicalacademy.org/give/.

If your household does not qualify for tuition assistance, please do not be discouraged. We encourage you to talk with us if you feel there are factors affecting your ability to pay tuition which are not addressed in the third-party process. Our reasons for offering need-based assistance are as follows:

1. Because even our ticket-price tuition is significantly lower than the school's actual cost per student (see this page for our estimated actual cost per student), those paying full-price tuition are not subsidizing assistance for others, but rather every student is generously subsidized by private donations.

2. Since Cedar is a private school, there is no obligation for anyone to enroll and attend. Like any service offered in the free market, individuals will choose it only if they feel that the service rendered is worth the cost to them. We hope each family at Cedar decides that the education their kids are receiving is worth every dollar they pay toward it.

3. The extent of the financial assistance we offer will not make tuition free or "easy" for anyone. We expect that the families receiving tuition assistance will experience the same (or greater) level of financial sacrifice in order to pay their tuition as those families who do not qualify for assistance.

4. A core principle of classical education is that what is right, good, true, and beautiful for one person is so for all. An education in virtue is not an education for the few and privileged, but for every human being. To that end, we offer financial assistance in order to make this education accessible to as many children as possible.

Understanding that tuition assistance is available because of the generosity of private donors and the efforts of Cedar board and staff members to seek out donations, we hope that you will consider paying a higher tuition level than your assessment returned, if you are in a financial position to do so. This would allow us to stretch our tuition assistance funds further and to make a good, true, and beautiful education accessible to more children.

School culture is important. We want to protect ours with a committed community of teachers, student and families who are on a mission together learning what it means to be humans.

A rigorous education requires a full school week. This is a serious endeavor, and we want to treat it as such.

We believe that, by offering a full-time schedule, we will have a greater impact on our culture. A part-time or hybrid homeschooling model would exclude families with two working parents who just want a good school for their kids who would otherwise have to send their kids to public school. If we were a part-time school, we would attract only parents who have one parent homeschooling children who are already going to get a good education whether it’s at this school or not. As a full-time school, we will join with those parents to multiply our impact and reach other families too.

Cedar is nondenominational in its Christian worldview and acceptance of the Apostles' Creed. Our theology classes use the Westminster Catechism and a Reformed theology curriculum from the Rafiki Foundation. Cedar was the first non-African school to pilot the theology curriculum from The Rafiki Foundation in 2019. Our teachers sign the broadly Christian Statement of Faith posted on our website. Our parents do not have to confess the Statement of Faith, but instead sign on that they accept that their children will be taught in accordance with it.

Because human beings are comprised of body, mind, and soul, we want to train and educate all of those facets of each child. We will offer sports, music, and other extracurriculars. We will not, however, spend as much time and money on these programs as the local public school, nor will we pursue the type of sports program that eliminates all family time. We may not produce elite athletes, but we will graduate self-controlled men and women.

Currently, we offer "specials" - art, music, and physical education classes - twice a week for Grades 1-7 and music and physical education classes once a week for Kindergarten.